India needs over 80 lakh hotspots with a view to reach the global level of one Wi-Fi hotspot penetration for every 150 people, said a joint study carried out by ASSOCHAM and research firm Deloitte. There are currently over 31,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots installed in India. However, for India to match the current global average of one public Wi-Fi hotspot per 150 people, an addition
Cyber security will cost the world $2 trillion in the next three years, and India, given the incidents of 2016, will continue to be the target, said Nitin Bhatt, national head and partner, risk advisory, Ernst & Young. Bhatt was speaking at the launch of the India report, part of the larger Global Information Security Survey 2016-17. Bhatt said that India would a victim of c
If you have a Paytm account and there is money in your wallet, then soon you can get interest on your money. The statement came from the Paytm’s blog post, in which the company announced that it will launch its payment bank on January 15. Paytm wallet users will be given the option of opening a bank account with Paytm payment bank. On doing so, the user will ge
A 2016 report of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) is a bit of a misnomer: it’s called ‘Proliferation of Indian Languages on Internet’, but these languages account for hardly 0.1 percent of internet content. The internet, as the Chinese and speakers of other languages would agree, is dominated by English – as high as 56 percent of the content.
From demonetisation’s impact on the digital economy to the growth of IT industry in the Trump era, NASSCOM president R Chandrashekhar shares his views with Taru Bhatia. Do you think demonetisation is a right step towards a cashless economy? While recognising the inconvenience to a large section of society, NAS
Calling demonetisation a bold step by the Narendra Modi government, CMAI association of India noted that the move will help curb black money from the economy and push digital economy. The Communication Multimedia and Infrastructure (CMAI) association of India is an integrated professional registered association in India for mobiles, telecom, ICT, education, cyber security, commu
CMAI association of India will soon launch online training programmes for free and an educational campaign for the use of e-transactions, the association announced at a press conference held in Delhi on Thursday. CMAI is the only integrated professional registered association in India for mobiles, telecom, ICT, education, cyber security, communications, multimedia, manufacturing
1.1 The Unique Identity Project of India, now called Aadhaar, was started in July 2009. The first Aadhaar number was issued on September 29, 2010. As on date, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the agency responsible for implementing this project, has issued more than 1 billion numbers and continues to inch towards universal coverage. However, there have been controversies and co
It’s 2.30 in the afternoon and there is a mad rush in the corridors of Shastri Bhawan which houses the headquarters of several ministries. Holding a bunch of files in their hands or balancing the stack against the waist, peons run across various departments. To save some time, they carry at least five to eight files in one go, before they start for another round. A worker hurriedly pushin
In order to quick access to information pertaining to Aadhaar, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has launched the revamped version of its toll-free helpline number 1947. The helpline will serve 24x7 throughout the year on IVRS mode. Call centre agents will be available from 7 am to 11 pm from Monday to Saturday. On Sundays, agents will answer calls from 8 am t
The fear that new technology could take away jobs and lead to a greater income inequality is not a new phenomenon. During the initial days of industrial revolution, people were worried that they would get replaced by machines. You might be tempted to dismiss this as a natural (and very human) fear of new technology and of change, but that would be unwise. After all, we aren’t talking abou
In August 2014, private photos of over 20 Hollywood celebrities were leaked online. Somebody apparently hacked into their accounts on iCloud – Apple’s backup service for all its devices – and stole the photos. The incident was a wake-up call for many, underlining the ease with which data stored in the cloud can be hacked. Keeping this risk in mind, the Indian government is tak
By December-end, the ministry of corporate affairs will launch Simplified Proforma for Incorporating a Company Electronically (SPICE), an e-form that will eliminate the need to fill multiple forms by business entities in India, Ramesh Abhishek, secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said at a FICCI event on Wednesday. He said that the main objecti
For an orderly growth of the telecom sector, it is necessary to have a clear regulatory framework with no scope of ambiguities, said RS Sharma, chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). He underlined the need for a reliable and robust broadband connectivity infrastructure for a transformational growth of the telecom sector in India. Delivering his keynote address o
India must aim to become a cashless and paper-less society by 2025, otherwise it will be difficult to reduce costs of transactions, said Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog. Kant showed a positive future of non-cash payment modes in the country at a one-day conference organised by observer research foundation (ORF), titled ‘digital payments: inclusion, growth and opportunities&rs
India`s mega auction of telecom spectrum kicked off on Saturday with operators vying for a total of 2,354.55 MHz across seven bands, towards which a reserve price of Rs 5.66 lakh crore has been fixed. Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Reliance Jio, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular, Aircel and Tata Teleservices are participating in the auction from which the government
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani’s speech at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) left a billion telecom subscribers salivating. On September 1, he announced that Reliance Jio customers will never be charged for mobile telephony and they will have access to mobile 4G internet at dirt cheap prices. Not just that, Reliance Jio would
Thirty-year-old Prince Bagla from Hoshiarpur in Punjab couldn’t contain his excitement when he received his driving licence on the very day he had applied for it. He didn’t have to go through the routine drill of approaching an agent, paying bribes to officials and endlessly waiting for days to receive the licence. “It was simple. I filled and submitted the form; took the test
Yes Bank on Wednesday has launched its unified payments interface (UPI) services by partnering with 50 businesses to enable easy fund transfer and move towards a cashless economy. The UPI framework developed the national payments corporation of India (NPCI) with the reserve bank of India (RBI), will enable low cost, high volume, electronic payments straight from th
A policy or a law has no utility unless it is implemented. Thanks to the sluggish execution, the national cyber security policy (NCSP), aimed at building a secure and resilient cyber space to ensure economic stability and strengthen national security, has been reduced to a mere 10-page government document. Unveiled on July 2, 2013 by the UPA government, the plan to strengthen cyber secu
